MSOE men's volleyball joins CVC
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Published: 05/12/2011 |
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Milwaukee, Wis. – Dan Harris, MSOE Director of Athletics, announced the men’s volleyball program joining the newly formed Continental Volleyball Conference (CVC), a nation-wide single-sport conference with ten NCAA Division III Institutions focused on academic and athletic excellence.
“The men’s volleyball program has come all long way in the eleven years of the program”, said Harris. “The conference gives MSOE the opportunity for intense competition, keeping traditional rival Carthage and creating a new one in UC Santa Cruz.”
Overall, the move will create alignment comparable to other MSOE sports, Harris concludes. “This puts men’s volleyball into a similar situation as other sports at MSOE. They will now have the ability not only to compete for a conference title, but an NCAA berth.”
Division III formally adopted the NCAA men’s volleyball championship as the Association’s 89th championship at the 2011 Convention held this past January. The NCAA has sponsored a National Collegiate Volleyball Championship since 1970, which was open to any varsity collegiate program in all three divisions. With the recent exponential growth of the sport on the Division III level, the NCAA has added the Division III Championship. This adoption and the awarding of an automatic qualifier bid to the tournament, was the catalyst to the formation of the CVC. The conference brings together some of the best teams from across the country to qualify for the proposed nine-team NCAA Division III Championship.
Athletic Director Harris sees the move to the CVC instrumental to the growth of volleyball both nationally and in the Midwest.
“The formation of the CVC is analogous to what the Big East was to college basketball in the 1980’s. This conference brings together some of the best NCAA Division III men’s volleyball programs in the country. The CVC will not only generate national exposure for MSOE, but also create an opportunity to advance into the first NCAA Division III men’s tournament.
MSOE, winners of the Midwest-III Volleyball Conference in 2010 and ranked as high as tenth in the nation, will be one of five teams that were nationally ranked in 2011.
Joining MSOE in the West Division will be Carthage College, Fontbonne University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, College of Mount Saint Joseph, and UC Santa Cruz. The East Division will be comprised of Eastern Mennonite University, Juniata College, Philadelphia Biblical University, Stevenson University and Thiel College.
Each team will play divisional opponents twice with the majority of the West Division matches beimng played on two tournament weekends. In 2012, West Divisional tournaments will be held at MSOE and Fontbonne University, while Carthage and the College of Mount St. Joseph will host in 2013. The top teams from each division advance to the conference tournament with a site yet to be determined. The CVC conference tournament champion will receive an automatic bid into the first NCAA Division III Tournament to be held at Springfield College on April 27-29, 2012.
Dr. Gary Williams, Associate Athletic Director of Carthage College will serve as the conference’s first commissioner. MSOE will be one of ten founding members of the new conference.
